Don Matthews says he's being 'targeted' because of his race

By Sarah Kuta Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
12/11/2013 08:42:58 PM MST

Updated:
12/11/2013 08:47:03 PM MST

Naropa University administrators and religious studies professor Don Matthews are at odds about his suspension last week over complaints that he threatened students and refused to speak during classes.

Matthews was placed on paid suspension for the rest of the semester early last week.

He said the suspension was racially motivated and the university didn't grant him "due process" before suspending him. University officials, however, said Matthews' actions posed a threat to the Naropa community and warranted immediate action in the form of suspension.

Naropa President Charles Lief said administrators have received more than 30 complaints from students against Matthews in the last 18 months. Lief said those complaints were being dealt with according to Naropa's policies.

Naropa officials felt they needed to remove Matthews from the classroom, Lief said, after they learned that Matthews refused to speak during classes last week and that he threatened to sue students for defamation.

Lief said the suspension has nothing to do with Matthews' race and acknowledged that the university has work to do on issues of diversity.

According to data provided by Lief, 17 percent of Naropa students identify as students of color, which includes African American students, Native American students, Hispanic students and those who identify as mixed-race.

"If this was a completely random set of circumstances and facts and nobody had a clue if the faculty member was male, female, African American, white, whatever, we would have taken the same steps," Lief said. "We're not looking for him to leave. We want him to stay."

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Lief said the administration hopes to work with Matthews and reinstate him for the spring semester.

'I knew they were going to target me'

Matthews said he's less concerned with his suspension than he is with the university's lack of diversity and bias toward him and other minorities. Matthews said he filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Religious studies professor Don Matthews holds hands with students and sings hymns at Naropa University on Wednesday during a gathering of his supporters.
(
CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

He and his supporters say they want the university to bring in an independent mediator to deal with issues of bias and racism on the private school's campus.

"The best possible outcome is that Naropa develops a program to deal with institutional racism," Matthews said. "That's why I filed the complaint, to try to change this institution."

He said he was not informed of any of the complaints filed against him, nor was he invited to discuss the complaints with university administrators.

He also said he was not told how long his suspension would last or given any other specifics.

"I knew it was my time," he said. "I knew they were going to target me."

Matthews referenced other African American faculty members or administrators who have left the university recently. He pointed to Stuart Lord, the university's first African American president, who resigned in 2011 after two years on the job.

He also pointed to Stephanie Krusemark, former associate dean of undergraduate admissions and multicultural recruitment, who left the university in November.

Matthews acknowledged that he implemented a silent protest against racial bias on campus during his classes last week. He said he walked around with a piece of paper explaining his protest and answered questions during the last 10 or 15 minutes of his classes to make sure his students understood the materials.

Matthews said he wants students to be able to file complaints at Naropa, however, he sees his situation as unfair because he was not given "due process" to respond to or address the complaints.

"I just want to be treated fairly," he said. "This is just another example of how African American scholars and administrators who press for diversity have been treated. We get targeted."

A group of 12 students and supporters organized a "silent, stand up presence" on campus Wednesday afternoon to show their support for the professor. The supporters and Matthews held hands in a circle and sang songs including "If I Had a Hammer."

Many students voiced their support for Matthews publicly, some tearing up when describing the professor's situation.

Divinity graduate student Jamil Scott, who said Matthews is his mentor and advisor, attended the vigil.

"We are wanting Dr. Matthews to have due process," said Scott, who's also a facilitator for Naropa's Community of Color group. "We're not getting into the details of what the complaints were. Most of those were confidential or anonymous and they haven't been shared with us, but they also have not, for the most part, been shared with Dr. Matthews. We want him to have an opportunity to respond to those complaints appropriately."

Professors need to be 'aware of the line'

In addition to the more than 30 student complaints against Matthews filed in the last 18 months, Lief described the two incidents that led administrators to suspend him for the rest of the semester.

Lief said Matthews informed officials and students that he would not speak for the rest of the semester in his classes until bias was eliminated at Naropa.

"We got significant expressions of concern from students about what that meant about finishing their coursework," Lief said. "Students who were in courses that were required for their degrees naturally did express some concern."

Lief said administrators found faculty members to finish out Matthews' courses this semester.

The second issue that led to Matthews' suspension, Lief said, was that the professor used Facebook and emails to threaten to sue some students for defamation. Lief said students were upset about the threats, and even if they weren't serious, Naropa's administration felt it had to take them seriously.

"Those students who contacted us said they were basically afraid to walk back into a class," Lief said.

One of the complaints filed against Matthews stated that the professor singled out the student in class and told the student that he or she needed therapy.

Lief said passionate professors like Matthews are what make the liberal arts university unique.

"Don Matthews is a faculty member who teaches at the edge, and that's important to us," Lief said. "He's provocative. He brings a different perspective, which is obviously unique to Naropa and unique to Boulder. He's an African American, Christian minister who comes to the university from an urban world that, frankly, many people here are not familiar with.

"It was no secret when he was hired that he was going to be a provocative faculty member. My view is that when you're going to teach at the provocative end of the spectrum, then you have to be pretty aware of where the line is."

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